1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to computer software. More specifically, the present invention relates to computer software applications configured to facilitate the coordination, production and development of multimedia projects.
2. Description of the Related Art
Developing entertainment productions has become a complex and sophisticated endeavor. Whether in the form of a commercial, television show, documentary, movie, video game, or otherwise, multimedia projects often require the coordination and cooperation of a number of different entities. For example, developing an entertainment production often requires managing the creation and use of both digital elements (such as the use of computer generated images (CGI) created by a special effects studio) and non digital elements (such as filmed live-action sequences, scripts, storyboards and artwork elements, created by various other entities).
Digital elements have become an increasingly common component of entertainment productions. For example, small productions may often include a few hundred shots that incorporate CGI elements and large “blockbuster” type productions often have thousands of CGI elements that make up entire scenes or even the entire production. Managing the development of these digital elements and the post-production process of composing live-action sequences with digitally generated images requires a producer to monitor the state of each shot as it progresses through different digital pipelines.
At the same time, managing non-digital elements such as performance scripts, storyboards, and artwork generated as part of the production process also presents significant challenges. For example, determining which version of a script corresponds to a storyboard created for the script, or even determining which version of the script is the most current one is often difficult to ascertain. More generally, developing a entertainment production requires coordination across multiple aspects of the production, such as coordinating the actions of storyboard artists with CGI animators and coordinating the actions of script writers with production staff and creative talent, to name but a couple of many possible examples.
One key approach to managing both the digital and non-digital elements of a production involves the concept of a production timeline. The production timeline defines the order in which elements are arranged to form a final production. For example, the production timeline for typical movie progresses from an opening title sequence through to the final closing credit. In between these two points is a sequence of shots. Each shot may be composed from live action film footage, animated sequences, and digital elements such as CGI images or renderings.
Typically, an editorial department is tasked with combining the digital and non-digital elements to generate a complete production. Several software applications have been developed to represent multimedia elements created for a production. For example, some applications have been developed that represent a production timeline using a sequence of shots proceeding from the first shot of a production to the ending shot. Other applications have built upon this approach by allowing the production timeline to include multiple versions of various video clips related to a particular shot. While this latter approach addresses the needs of an editorial department in composing the final product, it fails to address the requirements of related departments that may be producing material in parallel, or even in advance of the editorial department. For example, script, storyboard artists, pre-visualization, CGI artists, and final compositing are just a few of the departments that do not have access to the data or applications used by the editorial department. Likewise, the production timeline provided by these types of software applications fail to provide production personnel (e.g., producers, directors, production company executives) with the ability to visualize the outputs of the various parties participating in the production and/or to recombine different elements of the production in a way that allows flexibility, creativity and control in the creating the final production. Thus, current approaches fail to provide an application that allows production staff to manage and coordinate all the disparate, yet related, activity that occurs during the course of a media production.
Accordingly, there remains a need for software applications configured to better facilitate the coordination, production, and development of multimedia projects.